Taiwan's Healthcare Revolution: New Payment System for Doctors Unveiled

健保署 (National Health Insurance Administration) Introduces Changes to Address Physician Compensation and Improve Patient Care

In response to the ongoing issue of physician shortages, President Lai Ching-te has advocated for a "different work, different pay" approach within Taiwan's healthcare system. This has prompted calls from both medical professionals and civic groups for the Ministry of Health and Welfare's 健保署 (National Health Insurance Administration) to revise payment standards, particularly for consultation fees. 劉林義 (Liu Lin-yi), the head of the 健保署 (National Health Insurance Administration)'s Medical Management Division, explained that the current system already provides varied payments for specialized examinations, tests, and surgeries, reflecting a form of "different work, different pay." However, consultation fees have not been differentiated.

Following two expert meetings, the 健保署 (National Health Insurance Administration) is now developing a proposal to categorize consultation fees into "general" and "complex" categories.

劉林義 (Liu Lin-yi) clarified that classifying complex consultations based on medical specialty would be unfair, as any department may encounter challenging cases. The current focus is to exclude specialty and whether it is the first or follow-up consultation as a basis for evaluation. Instead, the new system targets patients with multiple chronic conditions, acute and serious illnesses, and rare diseases. The complexity will be determined by the patient’s condition and the difficulty of the consultation itself, with further discussion regarding which specific items qualify as "complex" consultation fees.